Étienne-François de Cillart de Villeneuve was a French aristocrat and Navy officer, brother to Armand-François Cillart de Surville and

Jean-Marie de Villeneuve Cillart Jean-Marie de Villeneuve Cillart was a French Navy officer. He served in the War of American Independence. Biography Cillart was born in an aristocratic family. His father was captain in a dragoon unit, and two of his brothers, Étienne-Fran� ...

Career

Cillart joined the Navy as a

Garde-Marine Gardes de la Marine is a junior officer rank, usually used in American navies, as well as a former rank used in France. France In France, under the Ancien Régime, the (Guards of the Navy), or were young gentlemen undergoing training to be nav ...

on 19 March 1756. He was promoted to Ensign on 2 March 1762, to Lieutenant on 1 October 1773, and to Captain on 9 May 1781. In October 1781, Cillart was in command of the frigate ''Bellone'', escorting the transports ''Neker'' and ''Sévère'' off

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. The squadron encountered the 50-gun HMS ''Hannibal'', which captured the transports and brought them to

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

. ''Bellone'' sailed on to Isle de France and reinforced the French squadron under Rear-Admiral Thomas d'Estienne d'Orves. On 9 February 1782, Estienne d'Orves and Suffren assumed command of the squadron. He re-appointed his captains and promoted Cillart to the command of the 64-gun ''Sévère'', while Jean André de Pas de Beaulieu took command of ''Bellone''. Cillart commanded ''Sévère'' at the

Battle of Sadras The Battle of Sadras was the first of five largely indecisive naval battles fought between a British fleet (under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes) and a French fleet (under Admiral Pierre Suffren) off the east coast of India during the Anglo-F ...

on 17 February 1782 and at the

Battle of Providien The Battle of Providien was the second in a series of naval battles fought between a British fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and a French fleet, under the Bailli de Suffren, off the coast of India during the Anglo-French War. The ...

on 12 April 1782. At the Battle of Negapatam, on 6 July 1782, ''Sévère'' was opposed to HMS ''Sultan''. At the opening of the battle, First Officer Chevalier de la Salle (capitaine de brûlot) was wounded and had to be carried below, and Manoeuver officer De Gênes had a leg shot off. Seeing this, Villeneuve-Cillart panicked and attempted to struck his colours. Junior officers Dieu and Kerlero de Rosbo refused to accept to surrender and resumed their fire, raking ''Sultan'', and forcing Cillart to rehoist his flag. The day after the battle, HMS ''Rodney'' joined up as

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

with ''Héros'', carrying Captain James Watt of HMS ''Sultan'' with a letter from Hughes demanding that Suffren hand over ''Sévère'' after her surrender. Suffren answered that he was unaware that ''Sévère'' had surrendered and promised to launch an investigation, and also warned that without orders from his government he was not at liberty to give away his ships. In the evening, Suffren was fully appraised of Cillart's conduct, and had him brought on his flagship ''Héros''. He relieved him of duty on the spot and sent him back to Isle de France (

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

) and from there to France, to be

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

ed. Rather to stand trial, Cillart escaped on a neutral ship and went in exile. Suffren also relieved of duty captains Bidé de Maurville of ''Artésien'' and

Forbin Forbin is a French surname. Members of an ancient Provence family (which now has many branches, the principal ones being the ''Forbin des Lasarts'' branch and the ''Forbin Janson'' branch) bearing the name include: * Palamède de Forbin (died 15 ...

of ''Vengeur'', and sent several other officers to Isle de France.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cillart de Villeneuve, Étienne-François 18th-century births Year of death missing French Navy officers